The Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award is an annual

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA) award which honors players who are making strides in the fight for

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

. The award was created in 2021 and named after

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem (alternatively spelled Karim or Kerim) ( ar, کریم) is a common given name and surname of Arabic origin that means "generous", "noble", "honorable". It is also one of the Names of God in Islam in the Quran. Given name Karim * Karim A ...

, a six-time

NBA champion The National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals is the championship series for the NBA held at the conclusion of its postseason. All Finals have been played in a best-of-seven format, and are contested between the winners of the Eastern Con ...

whose involvement with social issues dates back to the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

. All 30 teams nominate one player from their roster to be the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion, then the finalists and winner will be selected by a committee composed of NBA legends, league executives and social justice leaders. The winner selects an organization which will receive a $100,000 contribution on their behalf. The other fours finalists choose an organization to receive $25,000. The award is similar to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Walter Payton Man of the Year Award The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award is presented annually by the National Football League (NFL) honoring a player's commitment to philanthropy and community impact, as well as his excellence on the field. Prior to 1999, it was called s ...

, in which every team names a nominee who excelled in charity work. After the 2020–21 season,

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team me ...

was named the inaugural winner of the award.

Winners

References

{{Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award National Basketball Association awards Awards established in 2021